2022 Yorkville Sweet Malbec, Rennie Vineyard, Yorkville Highlands, Mendocino, California (750)   

About the Icons
The closest analog we can find for Yorkville's juicy and charming Sweet Malbec is Brachetto from northern Italy, but that is outside the frame of reference for most Americans. Like Brachetto, this wine is lightly sparkling, low alcohol, fragrant and sweet but in no way cloying. Think of it as a red version of Moscato d'Asti. Better yet, don't think at all! Just pull the cork!

From the producer:  A refreshing, slightly sweet summer red wine (the Oxbow team drinks this year-round!) that we like as an aperitif or with lighter desserts. We, and especially our young children at the time, always loved the taste of the juice from the freshly pressed Malbec grapes and thought we could make a delicious wine which would retain that fresh-squeezed juice flavor. We then stopped the fermentation at 9.6% alcohol (our regular Malbec varietal table wine is 13.5%) while leaving 6.3% residual sugar, nowhere near the 18% to 25% sugar level that late harvest desert wines typically have. Bottled the following April after the wine was settled with no oak contact, this is best consumed young – soon is good. Serve chilled.